Warrior Couples
by Dewfrost
Summary: Just a series of snippets about what I think are the best Warrior couples. This first one is Brook&Stormfur.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This is my first fanfic, a series of what I think are the best Warriors couples. This first one is Brook&Stormfur, and I'm hoping to get a few more written and submitted. If you have a couple you'd like me to write about, put it in a review and I'll give it a shot if I can. All reviews are appriciated!

Also, I own nothing.

Okay, here it goes:

He followed her across the rocky slopes, struggling to keep up with her lean form, tabby fur just visible beneath the cloak of mud. Stormfur let out a grunt of concentration as he leaped through the snow, managing to land at Brook's side. His muzzle brushed her flank as he overtook her. Shaking flakes off ice off his fur he raced ahead. It wasn't often that his pace exeeded hers, and he let out a playful purr, wondering how long he could keep it up.

He treasured these moments, when he ran and hunted alone with Brook. When he could forget his loneliness without his friends in the Clans, forget the loss of his father and sister, and the mother that he had never known. When he was with Brook, he could forget all that. And since she was with him almost all the time, he wasn't sad that often.

He could hear Brook purring with laughter as she pounded through the snows behind him. He himself raced blindly along the mountains, taking a path unfamiliar to him, higher up than he usually went. Stoneteller said not to venture into the most rugged terrain during days when it was snowing like this, but he was too wrapped up in his race to remember.

He heard Brook's purr behind him as the she-cat leaped, and tackled him at the back legs, bringing him to the ground. She licked his ear as she scrambled ahead of him, deftly leaping from rock to rock without ever slipping on the ice. Stormfur jumped after her but was unable to overtake her again. Her claws scratched on the frost-covered rocks as he bounded on them, following her steps. Then she leaped from the rocks to a white-dusted jut of rock. Stormfur mimicked her move, but his steps were not quite as light as hers, and he landed on all four paws, feeling the earth shake under his weight. Brook pricked her ears in alarm as the rock grumbled and then deteriorated, sending them both falling with the rubble.

Stormfur let out a yowl and twisted. He landed on his paws, but the slope he had landed on was sleek with ice and he slipped, sliding down the mountainside. Brook was beside him, and she called to him, twitching her whiskers as he dug his claws uselessly into the frost, "Don't try to fight it, Stormfur! Let it carry you!"

Carry him? Where to? But Stormfur knew he had no other option, and he sheathed his claws, trying to copy Brook and ride the ice as she did, but his paws kept sliding out from under him, and in the end he fell upon his belly and slid uncerimoniously down. Brook followed him, and they plowed into a snowdrift, landing in a heap. As they distangled themselves and got to their paws they were laughing, but Brook's face suddenly fell. She touched her nose to Stormfur's. "Do you miss them, the Clans?" she asked.

Stormfur felt his thick fur bristling at the question. "Of course I do," he answered. "But I know they're all right. And they must have found their new home by now."

Brook nodded, her eyes searching his. He went on, "But I don't worry for them. Not like I worry for my father."

"Graystripe?" she asked. He had spoken of his father many times.

"Yes," he answered. "I know he was taken by Twolegs, but I don't know where..." He trailed off when he saw the tremor pass through her. She had never seenTwolegs before. None of the Tribe had. But from Stormfur's descrptions of how the Clan cats had been chased from their home by them, most of the Tribe feared them Stoneteller had calmed them by saying, "Maybe Twolegs are good. True, they chase Clan friends from home. But perhaps it will serve well for them in the end. It has for the Tribe. Without Twolegs, Feathertail would have never been brought to us. Sharptooth would still hunt us."

_Yes, and now she's dead, _Stormfur thought. _Like my mother, Silverstream. And maybe my father, too._

"What do Twolegs do with cats they capture?" queried Brook.

"I...I don't know," Stormfur admitted. "Mistyfoot- RiverClan's deputy, I don't think you met her- was captured by them once. They held her in one of their dwellings for a few days before ThunderClan rescued her."

Brook looked thoughtful. "Is that what they did with your father?"

"I don't know," Stormfur meowed again, his eyes downcast. "Maybe."

"If they did, then he is not dead," Brook pointed out. "Perhaps he will get free."

"If he does, he'll have to cross over the mountains," Stormfur decided. "And I'll be sure to meet him if he does."

Brook nodded. "The whole Tribe will search for him," she promised. "And I will too. He is yours and Feathertail's father, Stormfur, and he will be honored by the Tribe."

"If he comes," Stormfur mewed.

Brook touched her tail to his shoulder. "He will come," she meowed firmly. "If he is anything like you, he will come."


	2. Firestar&Sandstorm

**Hi, I'm back. Thanks to my 3 ( that's right, count 'em, THREE) reviewers! You guys are great! This newest update is Firestar/Sandstorm, before Midnight but after The Darkest Hour. Hope you like it, and I'll try to update again sometime this week.**

"Take that to the elders," Firestar instructed his apprentice, Bramblepaw. "After that, you're free to go for the night."

Bramblepaw dipped his head, unable to speak because of the fresh-kill in his jaws. He bounded away, across the camp. Sorrelpaw, Sandstorm's apprentice, came hobbling out of the medicine cat's den after him. Two moons ago, she had been struck by a monster on the Thunderpath, injuring her shoulder. She hadn't been cleared by Cinderpelt to begin training again, but she hated spending all her time resting in the medicine cat's den, so she moved around camp as much as she could.

A flash of ginger fur n the corner of his eye alerted him to the presence of his mate, Sandstorm. Her eyes were fixed on Sorrelpaw, and there was a distracted look there. "Don't worry," Firestar assured her. "She'll be training again soon."

"What? Oh, yes, I'm sure she will," Sandstorm replied quickly. Firestar stared at her, confused. He had thought that she was worried about her apprentice, but her response didn't seem to fit. He was about to ask her what was wrong when she blurted out, "Do you want to go hunting? We have time before the sun goes down."

"Er, okay," Firestar replied, even further bemused. It wasn't like Sandstorm to be so distracted. He figured that she'd tell him what was wrong when they were out. He hoped he hadn't done anything to annoy her. StarClan knew that trouble with Sandstorm was the last thing he needed.

Out in the forest, Sandstorm's odd mood continued. They hunted through Tallpines, and all the time her ears and tail were twitching, and she looked down frequently for no apparent reason. It wasn't until she let a mouse leap away from right under her nose when Firestar meowed, exasperated, "All right, what's wrong with you?"

Sandstorm sat down opposite him. Her green eyes were wide, and Firestar saw to his surprise that, along with the wonder and worry there, he also saw joy. "Firestar," she began. She paused, and took a breath, then began again. "Firestar, I'm going...going to have our kits!"

"What?" Firestar was caught completely off guard, and it was several seconds before he was able to comprehend the news. Then he leaped to his paws, a purr filling him of its own accord. "That's great!"

"Really?" Relief and happiness filled Sandstorm's gaze for a few moments, and then her whiskers drooped. "But what if something goes wrong? Like it did with Silverstream. Or...or what if there's something wrong with the kits? Like Speckletail's Snowkit?"

"Nothing will go wrong." Firestar padded over to her and pressed his head against hers. "They'll be the most healthy and beautiful kits in the forest, Sandstorm, you'll see."

Sandstorm purred too, and she spoke with mounting excitement. "Can you imagine, Firestar? They'll be apprentices, and then warriors of ThunderClan! You'll be sure to give them good mentors, of course."

"The best ones I can find," promised Firestar, his tail curling up in amusement.

Firestar dreamed that night. Spottedleaf stood before him at Fourtrees, her tortoiseshell pelt dappled with moonlight. Her amber eyes were warm as she looked at Firestar.

"StarClan will watch over Sandstorm during her kitting," she promised softly.

Firestar dipped his head to her. "Thank you," he meowed. "But what about the kits themselves? Do you know what they'll look like? What they'll do? Willl they be good warriors?"

Spottedleaf's whiskers twitched. "I promise you, Firestar, that your kits will have great futures, futures important to the survival of the forest. StarClan will light their paths, and speak to them in their dreams."

Firestar felt his heart swell with pride at the thought that his kits may have a bond with StarClan, the same bond that he himself possessed and so cherished. "Can you see them, Spottedleaf?" he asked.

In reply, Spottedleaf stepped forward and touched her nose to his. At once blackness filled Firestar's vision, but it was soon replaced with the silvery glow of moonlight. He was looking at an unfamiliar hollow, and in it sat two cats, both she-cats, both young and strong. One had a pelt as fire-bright as his own, and the other's fur was swirled with brown tabby markings. The ginger cat turned to look at him, and in her eyes he saw Sandstorm's impertinence as well as her boldness and spirit. He also saw courage there, a desperation to prove herself that matched his own.

The other she-cat turned after her, and Firestar was surprised by her. She looked nothing like either him or Sandstorm, but he was certain that she too was his daughter. Her eyes were amber, not green, and they stared at him with a soft strength that he knew no warrior could ever possess. Starlight gleamed in their depths, as well as wisdom, a wisdom that he himself couldn't comprehend. He took a step closer, wanting to speak to her, wanting to speak to them both, but when he did the vision dissolved. He was back at Fourtrees with Spottedleaf.

"The tabby," he asked of her immidiately, "Who is she?"

"Your daughter, Firestar," she answered with a flick of her tail. "And I can tell you that there has never been a cat like her. While her sister will do great things, she will know...she will _understand _what no one before her has. Silverpelt will shine on her especially."

Firestar awoke abruptly, and as his dream came back to him he felt a warm feeling inside. It was good to know that StarClan was looking out for his kits; even better that they had great things in store for them. He sighed comfortably, then rose from his nest and padded out into the morning light.

**Can you tell that I love Leafpaw? She's my favorite in the new series! I know that didn't have a lot of Firestar/Sandstorm in there, but I wanted to show what Firestar thought of Sandstorm having kits. Hope you liked it! As always, reviews are appriciated!**


	3. Squirrelpaw&Brambleclaw

**To all that have already read Starlight: I KNOW that this doesn't fit in with what happened in the 4th book, but I wrote it before I read it, and I thought I'd put it in the update anyway, since I thought for sure this was going to happen before I read Starlight and Squirrelpaw(flight) and Brambleclaw are SO SWEET! Now I'm not so sure, though I hope that Brambleclaw and Ashfur get into a fight and Brambleclaw kicks butt! lol!**

**Also, to my reviewers: Thanks so much! Once again, you guys are great! To Tigerstripe: I noticed that too! I wonder if Erin Hunter planned it that way?**

Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw sat side by side, staring at the lake and beyond. All the others had fallen asleep, exhausted from the days of traveling. Squirrelpaw's whiskers twitched as she watched the warriors, apprentices, elders and queens dream, their ears moving and limbs twitching as if they were imagining what their new territory would look like, when they explored it in the morning. Her father, Firestar, lay sleeping beside Sandstorm, the bright green eyes she had inherited tightly shut, his flaming pelt tinged with the starlight.

She turned back to look at Brambleclaw. He stared back at her warmly. His amber eyes were soft. "We made it," he purred.

"We did," Squirrelpaw agreed, but her fur bristled with sorrow as she remembered those that they had left behind. Of the original six questing cats, Feathertail and Stormfur had not made it to the Clans' new home. Feathertail had been killed saving a tribe of cats in the mountains from an enormous lionlike creature dubbed Sharptooth. Her brother, Stormfur, had chosen to stay with the tribe when the Clans had visited them a second time, both because of the memory of his sister and because he had fallen in love with a she-cat there, Brook. Squirrelpaw missed him.

Brambleclaw guessed what she was thinking. "Stormfur will do fine with the Tribe," he assured her. "And Brook is there. Feathertail too, maybe. With the Tribe of Endless Hunting."

Squirrelpaw nodded, and she saw the wistfulness in the dark tabby's eyes as he looked back over the Clans' new home, darkened by the shadows of night. She twined her tail with his and lifted her head to press her muzzle against his cheek. "I'll be fine." She looked at him and purred. "I know there are still cats here watching out for me."

He purred too, deep in his throat, and he dipped his head to touch noses with her. "Who knows what's ahead?" he murmured, flicking his tail at the horizon.

Squirrelpaw shook her head. "It doesn't matter. We'll be ready for it. All of us. Even the kits, even Longtail, and he's blind! The other Clans, too. I think all this traveling has made us stronger."

Brambleclaw nodded. "Just like it did for us the first time we crossed the mountains."

"Yeah," she agreed. From the way her fur prickled, she was sure he knew that it hadn't been the only thing that had occured during that journey. Feathertail's death...the truth about the forest...the Tribe...and the realization of her feelings for Brambleclaw. But he felt the same, didn't he?

She saw the uneasiness in the depths of his amber eyes as he began to speak again. "Squirrelpaw...you and I have come a long way...through all this, I mean...I couldn't have done it without you. You should know that."

"I do know that," Squirrelpaw replied, and then she fell silent, waiting for him to go on as she knew he would.

"All I'm saying is, I'm glad you came," he meowed falteringly. "You were a big help. Like a warrior."

She felt her heart swell with his praise, but he still wasn't finished. "The thing is, Squirrelpaw..." he broke off and took a breath, and looked deep into her eyes. "I...I love you."

Squirrelpaw's fur prickled with joy and warmth spread through her. She felt as if she was floating through the air, so high that she stared at him, wondering if he was only joking. But she saw the truth in the intensity and softness in his gaze. She stretched up to lick his nose. "Brambleclaw," she whispered to him, "I love you, of course I do." She blinked at him sharply. "Why else would I stick with you through all this?"

His whiskers twitched, and his broad shoulders slumped in obvious relief. Then he looked at her and licked the top of her head. "We'll be all right, won't we?"

Squirrelpaw's eyes sparkled in the moonlight as she nuzzled him. "Of course we will." And she truly believed it.

**Reviews are appriciated, as always. Also: LEAFPOOL ROX! (sorry if I spoiled the new name)**


	4. Silverstream&Graystripe

**I'm back again. This new one is possibly the best and most tragic of all the Warrior couples (except maybe Feathertail&Crowfeather, but that's later). Yeah, that's right, it's Graystripe&Silverstream. This takes place all the way back in A Dangerous Path, the night before RiverClan tries to take back Sunningrocks. What made Graystripe save Fireheart? Read to find out!**

**And, again, thanks to all reviewers! Good luck with your own stories, and I hope you like mine! (No stealing my ideas, though, or I might have to flame you) lol!**

She was dead.

Graystripe knew that, and he had forced himself to accept it. So why was she here, in front of him, right now? _How_?

Silverstream gazed at him through blue eyes just like her daughter, Featherkit's. Their son, Stormkit, had eyes of yellow-amber, like Graystripe, and thick gray fur. But Silverstream's pelt was short and as sleek as fish scales. It was silver like starlight on water, but rippled with black tabby stripes like shadows.

She had died many moons ago, bearing Stormkit and Featherkit. Graystripe, though she had been RiverClan and he ThunderClan, had loved her dearly, and her loss still hurt him each time he thought of it. It was a wound that would never heal, and it throbbed painfully in his heart as he stared at her now.

"Silverstream," he whispered. "Silverstream, how are you here?"

It was then that he saw the stars that swirled around her paws and in her eyes. Frost glinted on her pelt, though it was the height of greenleaf. So he was dreaming, then. But his fur bristled when he realized she had visited him in his sleep from StarClan.

"Graystripe," she purred. "Dear Graystripe. I miss you."

"I miss you too," Graystripe mewed earnestly. "Every day. And Featherkit and Stormkit, too. I wish they could meet you."

"I watch over them," she promised softly. "And I watch over you too, Graystripe. I know that you will never forget me, and I will do the same, no matter how many moons pass before we are truly together again."

Graystripe looked around. They were at Sunningrocks, which was ThunderClan territory, even though he was a RiverClan cat, and he had been since he had joined Silverstream's Clan to look over their kits since her death. But deep down he felt the sense of belonging here. This was where Featherkit and Stormkit had been born. Where Silverstream had been buried. And, until recently, it had been his own territory.

"You do belong here, Graystripe," Silverstream murmured. "This is your home."

"But what about Featherkit and Stormkit?" Graystripe protested. "I need to watch over them. In RiverClan."

"Do you?" Silverstream queried. "They are kits, and they will be looked after well in RiverClan, with or without you."

"But how could I leave them?" Graystripe wondered. "I need them. They're all that's left of you."

"Is that true?" Silverstream meowed. "Graystripe, I do not only live in my kin. I live in flowing water and rushing reeds. I live in the sun and in the moon. I live in Silverpelt. And I live in you. As long as you remember me, I will be a part of you. Someday we will be together again, and then I promise we shall never be apart. But for now, dear Graystripe, you must do what you wish. What is best for you, and what is best for your Clan. A destiny still lies before you, Graystripe. And you must rise to meet it…in ThunderClan."

She stepped forward and brushed her muzzle past his own, twining her silver-and-black tail with his. Her touch was as soft as shadow and mist, but he felt it, and he smelled her scent, the same as it had always been.

"I love you, Graystripe. Don't you dare forget that." There was a flash of fierce spirit in her eyes, even as she faded away.

Graystripe twitched his whiskers. "I won't," he meowed. "I promise."

He awoke later to see the RiverClan camp bustling with activity. Mistyfoot prodded him with her paw from where she slept beside him. "Graystripe," she growled. "Graystripe, Leopardstar's called for us to take back Sunningrocks. There'll be a battle. What will you do?"

Graystripe stared at her, his dream still fresh in his mind. "I don't know," he admitted, but that was a lie. He didn't know what he would do, but he knew exactly what he wouldn't.

**Thanks for reading. Remember, reviews are appriciated!**


	5. Feathertail&Crowfeather

**STOP RIGHT THERE. Have you read Starlight? If you have, go ahead and read. If you haven't and you don't want one of the best storylines of it spoiled, then don't read this until you've read Starlight. Just a warning. **

**Anyway, more thanks to all reviewers, and keep at your own fanfics. This one's Crowfeather/Feathertail AND Leafpool, which, let me tell you, took a little thought to put all together. I love this one, since I loved Crowfeather and Feathertail together and might just like Leafpool and Crowfeather together even more. This takes place near the beginning of Starlight. Remember when Crowfeather says to Leafpool, "You walk in my dreams"? Well...**

Fog swirled around Crowfeather, thick and dense. The bushes and trees around him were only fuzzy shadows, and even his sense of smell was obscured. He crouched low as if he could fight it, but he knew by common sense that he couldn't.

Then one of the shadows moved. It headed towards him, and Crowfeather took a step back, his fur bristling along his neck, until he saw a pair of eyes penetrate the darkness. He couldn't make out their color, but they looked like twin stars, staring warmly at him. Crowfeather found himself mesmerized by their gaze, and he retraced his steps, heading towards the shadow that he now knew must be a cat.

The shadow-cat's voice sounded through the misty fog, clear as anything. "Crowfeather."

"Who are you?" he called back, but he thought he already knew. What other voice made his paws prickle in such a way, made a purr rise in his throat? Who always seemed like this, so close for him to reach, yet so far away?

The others thought that it would never work out. Crowfeather knew it. He had seen it in Brambleclaw's awkward feigned obliviousness, seen it in Tawnypelt's wide disapproving stare. Felt it in the cold, angry gaze of her brother Stormfur. Still, only Squirrelflight had said something outright.

"This isn't right, Crowpaw," she had told him, for that had been his name then. "It'll never work out, you know. You come from different Clans! You're breaking the warrior code!"

"It's funny," Crowfeather had spat back, "Because that's what I thought you were doing, coming with us in the first place."

But that was on the journey to the sun-drown place, while they had been with the Tribe in the mountains. Before Feathertail had died, saving him and the others from Sharptooth. Pain ripped him as he remembered it now. Why did StarClan make her die? Was it because of their illicit love?

Crowfeather's tail lashed as he sprang after the shadow, desperate to see Feathertail up close, desperate to speak to her. But she was fleeing, rushing back into the safety of the thicker fog. Crowfeather narrowed his eyes and followed her, determined that if he just caught up, then she would recognize him and stop.

"Feathertail!" he wailed, his voice shaking in the night air. "Feathertail, wait for me! It's me, Crowfeather!"

But she did not pause, did not turn. Still, Crowfeather was certain that it was her. It had to be. Who else would it be? Who else would he feel for so strongly simply by the faint outline of her and the sound of her mew?

"Feathertail!" he cried again. "Please, Feathertail!"

Was it because she really wasn't there, not even in his dreams? Was it because she truly walked with the Tribe of Endless Hunting, and he would never be together with her again? The thoughts made him grit his teeth and follow her with renewed vigor. "FEATHERTAIL!" he cried, and the pain and sorrow in his call would have made a badger weep.

His meow split the cold winds and slashed the sky so hard that the clouds broke, and the sun streamed in. The golden light dissolved the mist in a heartbeat's time, and Crowfeather squeezed his eyes shut against the unexpected glare, shaking his pelt, heavy with wetness.

His eyes flashed back open, and he turned eagerly to see Feathertail, certain that she hadn't run away again. But what he saw made him gasp. The cat before him was a she-cat, and she was absolutely beautiful. Her eyes sparkled with starlight and wisdom, and drops of mist gleamed on her whiskers and her tabby fur. But it was not silver tabby, but brown. And her eyes were not the blue of the morning sky, but amber.

It was ThunderClan's medicine cat apprentice and Squirrelflight's sister, Leafpaw.

"No!" Crowfeather breathed. But strangely, even after he knew her real identity, his feelings did not fade. He felt powerful, surging affection for the cat before him, as strong as if she had been Feathertail. But how could he?

He drew breath to say something to Leafpaw, he knew not what, but before he could she gave him one long look that was full of spirit and the warmth of the sun. Then she turned and padded away. And Crowfeather knew that, no matter how hard he tried to follow her, this time he would not be able to catch up.

**I love this couple, and I'm thinking of writing another fanfic about them. If you'd like me to, put it in a review, please! Other reviews are appriciated too! (Anyone getting sick of me saying that?)**


	6. Bluefur&Oakheart

**Sorry for the lack of updating, but I was at my aunt's house. But now I'm back, and I have a new fic ready for y'all. This one is Bluefur/Oakheart, and takes place back before Warriors even really began, back in the leaf-bare where Bluefur has her kits, before she's Bluestar. Hope you like it!**

**As always, thanx to all my reviewers! Glad you all are willing to read my rambles, and good luck with your own fics. I'll give them a read if you ask! **

Bluefur's steps were light as she padded for the riverbank. Though she made not a sound, the scraps of fur that plodded after her were loud as they trundled through the snow-filled ground, pausing occasionally to sneeze or cough. They shivered, and Bluefur paused every few steps to lick them desperately, though whenever she did she had to set down the kit she carried in her mouth, and when she did her son sat and whimpered with sickness and cold until she picked him up again.

_Why am I doing this? _she wondered to herself. _They won't survive this!_

She comforted herself with thinking of her childrens' new life in RiverClan, where they would be full-fed and warm all the time. But that too spurred pain inside her, for that new and wonderful life would be one that she could not share with them. She was of ThunderClan, though her kits' father was RiverClan. He had agreed to take them there, and she had agreed to let them go.

But the cold and lack of prey in her own Clan was not the only reason for Bluefur's decision, though she pretended to Oakheart that it was. In truth, she wanted to be chosen for ThunderClan's new deputy. The gossip was that Tawnyspots had decided to retire, and Dewstar would need a replacement for the noble and wise cat. Bluefur knew that she had a good chance of being chosen, but with her kits she would obviously be passed over. How could she lead and organize hunting patrols from the nursery, especially when she was drained to the breaking point from just caring for them? Leaf-bare was cold and hard this time around, and all of the Clans were suffering- except for RiverClan, fattened from a newleaf of filling fish.

So Bluefur had come up with this plan. She would give the kits to their father, Oakheart- whose affair with Bluefur was against the warrior code in the first place- and he would take them to RiverClan, where they would be well cared for. Bluefur had torn a hole in the nursery wall before she had left, and her lie was ready. She would tell Dewstar that a fox or a badger had broken in and stolen them away.

Her only daughter, Mistykit, sat down in the snow with a faint crunch. Though she could not speak yet, she looked up at Bluefur with enormous blue eyes that clearly carried a message- _I don't want to go any further._

"But you must," whispered Bluefur through her mouthful of fur. She carried the most sickly of her kits- Elmkit- in her teeth. While his sister Mistykit and brother Stonekit were blue-gray and compact, like herself, Elmkit betrayed an odd similarity to his father. His fur was reddish brown tabby, his limbs long, his shoulders broad. When Bluefur had first seen him, she had had dreams of him becoming a great warrior of ThunderClan, as strong as Oakheart had ever been. She had called him Elmkit, a secret joke between her and Oakheart. **(you know, Elm and Oak, for the slow folks out there)** But Elmkit had grown the sickest of her kits, and it was clear that he was holding onto his life, but only just.

Bluefur was forced to set him down beside Stonekit to nudge Mistykit on. Her sons trotted dutifully behind, despite how badly they stumbled. Bluefur was relieved when she saw the river coming into sight, Oakheart's large, proud sillihoutte visible in the moonlight. The blue-gray queen stared at him. Even now she wondered how it had happened in between them. They were both ambitious, firm believers in the warrior code- but they were also both young and foolish. They had met at a Gathering and mated for a short while. Bluefur felt no true love for him, but she did not regret getting to know him, no matter the fierce rivalry between their two Clans.

"Bluefur," he called softly as he sighted her, and he went springing through the snow to her side. He immidiately swiped up Stonekit, and Bluefur grasped Elmkit, at the same time still trying to nudge Mistykit along. She was relieved when they reached the river, and she found it was frozen over.

"How will you get them over that?" Bluefur mewed.

"The ice is thick enough, if you know where to walk," Oakheart replied. "I'll carry them. But you shouldn't. You might step on a thin place and fall through."

Bluefur nodded, and she watched miserably as Oakheart grasped Stonekit again and began to trek carefully across the gleaming sheet. His steps were certain and deft, and he had soon crossed. As he came back for Mistykit, Elmkit began to cough violently. Bluefur looked down at him in alarm and pressed her paw against his tiny chest as the medicine cat had taught her, pressing gently and then releasing as his lungs began to expand. But still he hacked, and she began to lick him frantically, not knowing what else to do.

"No, no," she whispered. "Elmkit, hold on for a bit more! Soon Oakheart will have you warm and safe."

Oakheart deposited Mistykit on the opposite bank, after carefully clearing away the snow to make a place for her. As he returned and bent down to grasp Elmkit's scruff, Stonekit let out a high-pitched mewl from across the ice. Bluefur jerked her head up. "Keep him warm for a moment," she murmured to Oakheart. "I must say good-bye to them."

Ignoring his warning, she leaped onto the ice. Her steps were not quite so neat as Oakheart's, but she did her best and had soon reached her two kits. They looked at her through eyes that were chips of the clear morning sky, so full of confusion that Bluefur felt her heart break, splintering into a cold, surging pain that she knew she would always bear with her after this day. She bent down and touched her nose in between Stonekit's eyes, then did the same to Mistykit, breathing in their familiar scents in a way she knew that she may never do again. "Keep each other safe," she mewed. "And learn from Oakheart. He is a great warrior. I love you, my kits, and know that I will never forget you."

She was sure they understood, though she knew not why. As she crossed back to the other side, Oakheart looked up from where he had his tail wrapped around his tiny son. His bright golden eyes were cold with grief. "His heart has stopped."

"What? No!" The hiss escaped Bluefur before she could stop it and she threw him aside roughly, bending to lick Elmkit's tabby fur, licking it the wrong way to stimulate his breathing. But as soon as she touched his fur with her tongue she knew- blood was not flowing from his veins, and there was no reassuring beat of his heart.

She stumbled backward, filled with bewilderment and pain, and was not aware as Oakheart gently nosed her ear. "I will keep the other two safe," he promised softly. "And know this, Bluefur: no ThunderClan warrior will ever strike either of them down in battle. I won't have you shoulder that burden as well."

Bluefur nodded bleakly, her gaze still on Elmkit. Oakheart looked at him too, and he stepped forward to lick his son's pelt, mewing something Bluefur couldn't hear. Then he lifted his head, and his eyes met hers. Something passed between them for several long heartbeats, but it was gone too quickly to be certain what it was.

The RiverClan warrior put his paws on the frozen river and began to make his way over to his two kits, who were beginning to whimper again. But he looked back once more, and he called, "I hope that you become ThunderClan's new deputy."

"How did you-"

"Come on, Bluefur," he replied, the twitch of his whiskers only slight in his sorrow for Elmkit, "we're so alike, I know we share the same ambition."

Bluestar stared at him with growing understanding as he padded back across the ice. On the other side, he picked up Mistykit and let Stonekit cling to the fur on his back, so that neither had to touch the freezing snow. Sitting beside Elmkit's body, Bluefur watched them go, watched them until they were swallowed up in the darkness. Then she turned her head upward towards the crescent moon. It looked like a claw, looked like the claw she felt tearing inside her, ripping into her heart. The claw stayed there, and it would for the rest of her life, digging in a little deeper whenever she saw her children again.

She watched it for a while, then put her head back down, turning it to look at her dead kit. She spoke to him softly, even though she knew that he could no longer hear. "You'll watch over them for me, won't you? When I can't see them."

Bluefur did not recieve a reply, and she never would. She stood up, feeling the claw inside her grasp her heart tight. She heaved a long, hard sigh, and then began to clear snow away to dig a grave.

8

"Bluefur will be the new deputy of ThunderClan."

Dewstar's clear voice echoed around the ravine, and then the ThunderClan cats threw back their heads and howled in approval. Bluefur felt her tail rise in pleasure and excitement, an excitement that overpowered her pain for a few heartbeats. She stared around at the faces of her friends; Lionheart, Redtail, Whitestorm, and Frostfur, and they purred back at her, their eyes shining with pride and approval.

"Go on," meowed Redtail. The small tortoiseshell nudged her, his clear amber eyes shining and the ginger tail that gave him his name waving in the air. Bluefur leaped to her paws and turned to face her Clanmates. She quickly raked together her thoughts into an acceptance speech. "Cats of ThunderClan," she called, "I'm honored by this, and I swear by StarClan that I won't disappoint you, Dewstar."

The powerful silver cat, his white throat and paws bright like patches of freshly fallen snow, dipped his head to her, and Bluefur felt more proud than she had ever been before. Then her eyes caught that of a gray-and-white cat near the edge of gathering. His head was bowed, his shoulders hunched, but as Bluefur's gaze swept him, he roughly yanked it back up. The hate and spite in Thistleclaw's cold green eyes took her breath away. He had had just a good of a chance as her at getting chosen, though she was greatly relieved that Dewstar hadn't picked him. Such coldness, such greed, such mindless arrogance...that wasn't what ThunderClan needed right now, especially when their leader had a dwindling amount of lives.

Her decision came flooding back to her, and she breathed a secret sigh that no one else could hear. She knew now that she had made the right choice in what she had done.

Still, that didn't mean she couldn't regret it.

**Sorry that was so long, but I had a lot to get in. Once again, I know that wasn't really a romance, but the most important part about Bluefur&Oakheart was Bluefur's decision to get rid of her kits. Hope you like it, and, (yep, I'm still saying it) reviews are appriciated!**


	7. Cloudtail&Brightheart

**I had a ton of time today, so I have a new one all ready for you guys. This one is Cloudtail&Brightheart. (I thought that it was so sweet in A Dangerous Path when they got together, and I just had to write a fic about them). The setting is A Dangerous Path, the night of Cloudtail's warrior ceremony.**

**All reviewers: Thanks for your praise and suggestions for couples. About the suggestion for Spottedleaf/Firepaw...it's in progress, I promise!**

"Bluestar will never make us warriors," Swiftpaw snarled, "Unless we do something so herioc that it'll be impossible to ignore us."

"But she made Cloudtail a warrior," Thornpaw commented. "Surely we'll be next."

Swiftpaw spat. "_Cloudtail_," he meowed venemously. "And who was Cloudtail's mentor? Fireheart. And who is Fireheart? Bluestar's deputy. Seriously, Thornpaw, Cloudtail never would have been made a warrior if it weren't for Fireheart's mewing in Bluestar's ear."

Brightpaw shifted uncomfortably. She didn't believe a word that her denmate said. She knew he was only saying for his bitter anger at having been passed over while Cloudtail had been promoted. She also knew he was only echoing his mentor, Longtail's, spiteful mumblings. She wondered if she should tell Longtail that Swiftpaw was taking him seriously. But by the hard glint in the black-and-white tom's yellow eyes she knew that it was far too late. Swiftpaw already had a plan.

"We should go find whatever's been eating the prey in our forest," Swiftpaw meowed. "When we do, and bring it back as fresh-kill, how could any warrior ignore us?"

"But that's too dangerous!" Ashpaw, one of the younger apprentices, burst out from where he sat beside his sister Fernpaw. "We don't even know what it is."

"We'll find it," Swiftpaw assured him, and then added coldly, "Unless you're too scared to go look."

"I'm not scared," Ashpaw protested. "Ijust want to be alive to see my warrior ceremony, whenever it does come."

"Well, you'll be waiting a long while then," Swiftpaw replied. He turned to Brightpaw and Thornpaw, passing over Fernpaw completely, obviously thinking she would side with her brother. "Well?"

Thornpaw shook his head. "Sorry," he meowed. He met Swiftpaw's gaze steadily. "But this sounds too dangerous. Besides, we're breaking the warrior code, and I don't want to be made a warrior that way."

"Suit yourself," shrugged Swiftpaw, and looked expectantly at Brightpaw. She swallowed. While she desperately wanted to be a warrior, she knew this was wrong. Besides, she wasn't angry at Fireheart or Bluestar for not being made a warrior. She especially wasn't mad at Cloudtail. How could she be, when she felt pride for him inside when she thought of him now, holding his vigil?

But how could she sit back and let Swiftpaw let himself get killed? She had always felt that she had to look out for her fellow apprentices, and how could she fail at that duty now when Swiftpaw might need her?

She took a breath, her decision made, and thinking that perhaps she might be able to get him to change her mind before they were missed. "I'm coming."

Swiftpaw's eyes lit up. "Great!" he mewed, and then turned to the others. "You can't tell them where we've gone. If they ask, just say we went out hunting or something."

He didn't wait for them to reply, and pushed his way out of the den. Brightpaw hesitated before following, and padded over to Fernpaw. "If we're not back before dawn," she mewed, "Tell some cat. Fireheart or Bluestar or your mentor, somebody."

Fernpaw looked at her with huge eyes. "But Swiftpaw-"

"Leave Swiftpaw to me," Brightpaw interrupted, her paws prickling uncomfortably. "Just do it, Fernpaw. Please."

Fernpaw nodded, and she meowed after Brightpaw, "Good luck."

"Cloudtail wouldn't notice a Twoleg monster roaring through the camp," growled Swiftpaw, loud enough for the other apprentices to hear back in the den. "We'll have no problem getting out."

Brightpaw's tail twitched as she began to slink across the camp after him. She turned back once, and she saw the sillihoutte of Cloudtail against the camp entrance. She stared after him and longed to bound over, longed to tell him where they were going and make Swiftpaw stop. But she couldn't, and she only whispered, "Sorry," as she leaped after Swiftpaw, though she was certain that he couldn't hear her.

8

_Pack, pack. Kill, kill._

That was the only thing Brightpaw could hear. The only memory in her shattered mind. Her leg twitched, and pain lanced through her, burning like fire, sharp like ice. Fear ate at her common sense, and she continued trying to run away. "Pack, pack!" she wailed. "Kill, kill!"

Instantly she was being held down, gently but forcibly. She struggled, ignoring the agony it caused. It was only a few heartbeats before her strength was spent and her muscles stopped obeying her. She lay still, panting and trembling.

"Bright- Lostface." The odd name confused Brightpaw, and she tried to open her eyes, finding that one appeared fuzzy and clouded over, the other not completely clear. She found herself in Cinderpelt's den, and she wasn't sure how she had gotten there. The medicine cat was nowhere in sight, but she saw the shadowy form of a tomcat over her.

_Swiftpaw? _she wondered, the incident flooding back to her. She remembered enormous, slavering jaws...Swiftpaw yowling...teeth, claws, and awful howling...

Suddenly her one usable eye snapped into focus. She saw that the cat before her wasn't Swiftpaw, but Cloudtail. He licked her head, his tongue soothing over the awful wounds that she could not see but could feel nonetheless. "Lostface," he whispered.

_Lostface?_

"That's your name now," he told her, as if he could read her thoughts. "Your warrior name. But I won't call you that. You're still Brightpaw to me."

Brightpaw- Lostface- tried to purr, but found that she couldn't. She wasn't ready to speak yet. But Cloudtail didn't seem to mind. He purred himself and pressed himself against her. "You haven't changed," he promised softly.

_But what happened? _Brightpaw wondered. Again, as if he knew what she was thinking, Cloudtail went on. "Swiftpaw's dead, Brightpaw. I don't know if you know that. He died fighting. Fighting whatever attacked you."

Brightpaw shivered, but this time no terrifying memories flooded her. Only the words: Pack, pack. Kill, kill. Sorrow gripped her tight. She had gone only to help Swiftpaw, and she had failed. She wanted to curl up and die from the pain, the sorrow, the exhaustion, but she didn't. She couldn't, for the Clan's sake. For Cloudtail's sake.

The white warrior said no more about it. His blue eyes were wide as he stared at her, and Brightpaw stared bleakly back as she fought away sleep. "I've been padding after you since newleaf," he whispered. "We've been hunting so many times, been on patrols. But I've never told you, Brightpaw. Never told you that I loved you."

His words sent a charge through Brightpaw, but it wasn't painful. Instead it carried warm shafts of sunlight and cool breezes. She stared at him blearily, wondering at her new name. Lostface. What was wrong with her? What had whatever killed Swiftpaw done to her? And why was it that Cloudtail, the selfish, StarClan-disbelieving, wayward, sometimes hotheaded but always brave, handsome, and loyal warrior didn't care?

She blinked, wishing that she could tell him what she felt inside her, wishing that she could say she loved him too. But she couldn't yet speak, and Cloudtail looked at her for several more heartbeats as if looking for signs that she had heard what he had said. In the end he curled up beside her, wrapping his tail around her. "It's all right, Brightpaw," he murmured. "I'll wait for you. No matter how long it takes."


	8. Raggedstar&Yellowfang

**Okay, here's one I haven't seen done before. Raggedstar&Yellowfang, set before Into the Wild, where Yellowfang had Raggedstar's kits. How did she hide it from ShadowClan? Here's how I think she did it...**

A broad-shouldered cat, his fur jet-black, sat at the ShadowClan camp's entrance. He was enormous, his legs lanky, his paws large and his claws long and hooked. Muscles were visible even beneath his unusually long, thick fur that hung off of him in a wild and rough way that gave him his name. His eyes were golden, and they shone with power and strength as well as intelligence.

A gray she-cat appeared out of the darkness, heading for the brambles behind the black cat. She had obviously been through rough times, for her fur was badly kept and she walked in a weary way. She cocked her head when she saw the cat before the ShadowClan camp. "Raggedstar," she meowed. "How did you know I'd be back?"

"I didn't, Yellowfang," Raggedstar replied, getting up to press his muzzle against her side. "I just hoped that you would be." He looked around. "Was it tough?"

Yellowfang nodded hesitantly. "Only one survived," she murmured. "Punishment from StarClan, I suppose. This wasn't supposed to happen at all."

Raggedstar's eyes gleamed at her in a way that said he didn't regret it all, and Yellowfang made a noise that could have been interpreted into a purr. She twitched her tail. "Come, Brokenkit," she whispered. "It's safe."

A surprisingly large kit came padding out into the open. His fur was tabby, and just as ragged as his father's. Thankfully, he betrayed no likeness to Yellowfang. Raggedstar stared at him in a gaze that was a mixture of curiosity and pride. "He is strong," he mewed. "But why would you give him a name like Brokenkit?"

Yellowfang nodded at his tail, and Raggedstar saw that it was bent, like a snapped branch of a tree that refused to fall. "It isn't hurting him," she meowed. "And I thought it might as well be in his name, so he may be proud of it."

Raggedstar nodded in acceptance. "You've been gone two moons," he commented, as if she didn't know. "The Clan thinks that you have been on a secret medicine cats' mission. What will I tell them now?"

"Only that it has been completed," Yellowfang replied steadily, licking Brokenkit's ear. "And that's the truth. As much as we can admit, anyway."

Raggedstar pushed his muzzle against her nose. "Thank you for putting up with all this," he mewed. "It would have been my burden as well as yours if the Clan had found out."

"But they haven't," replied Yellowfang shrewdly. "And there's no reason that they should. I have paid my debt to StarClan by watching two of my kits die. And it will be worth it in the end to see this one live." She looked proudly down at her son. "He will be a fine warrior," she promised softly.

"Of course he will," Raggedstar meowed. "He will have a fine mentor, and learn the ways of the warrior code well."

Yellowfang nodded. "I'll take him to the nursery," she decided.

"Icewhisker's only kit died in the cold winds," Raggedstar told her. "Perhaps she will take him. But where will you tell her that you found him?"

"In the forest," Yellowfang answered. "And I will make sure that no other cat knows. The news doesn't need to spread that I came back with a kit in my jaws."

Raggedstar nodded, and he pressed his muzzle against hers once more. This time Yellowfang's purr was loud and clear. "It'll all work out," she whispered to the black tom. "It already has."

She gathered Brokenkit to her, letting Raggedstar lick his son once before she padded over to the nursery. All the other queens were sleeping, but she could tell that Icewhisker wasn't. The white queen lay on her side, her green eyes cold and miserable as she mourned her lost kit. Yellowfang padded over, watching Icewhisker bristle with surprise as she recognized her.

"Yellowfang!" she meowed. "I wondered when you'd return! Where-"

"Hush," Yellowfang hissed softly. "You'll wake Clearspring and her kits."

It was then that Icewhisker noticed Brokenkit. "Where'd you get that?" she asked. "Is he ShadowClan?"

Yellowfang opened her mouth to tell her lie, but something else came out instead. "He is Raggedstar's son," she mewed. "And his name is Brokenkit. That's all you need to know."

Icewhisker's eyes were round with surprise as Brokenkit wriggled free of Yellowfang and padded over to her, searching for milk, but she said nothing beyond, "I'll take care of him, Yellowfang. I promise."

"Thank you," Yellowfang replied in relief. She backed out of her den, but not before she sniffed her young one more time. Her heart was a tumble of love for Raggedstar and Brokenkit. Right then she didn't care about those two moons she had spent outside of ShadowClan territory, fending for herself away from her home so that the others wouldn't be able to figure out her secret. She wouldn't have traded her life for anything, and she didn't regret what she had done, despite the rules that she had broken. She loved her son dearly, more than she had ever thought she would.

But if she had known what he would someday become, what he would do, she would have killed him with her own paws. And that was the truth.

**I think I'm forgetting something. Oh, yeah...**

**REVIEWS ARE APPRICIATED!**


	9. Spottedleaf&Firepaw

**This may, MAY (as inpossibly, but not entirely certain) be my last chapter because a) I have other fanfics I wanna work on and b) I'm out of Warrior couples. If you have one that you want me to write about, put it in a review and I'll write it, but otherwise I think this is it.**

**Many thanks to Spacemin Spiff for suggesting my fic in their own story. Also thanks to Dewflower for suggesting this couple as a fic. This one's Spottedleaf&Firepaw in Into the Wild, before Spottedleaf dies.**

He left her den with mouse bile for Yellowfang's ticks, and Spottedleaf could not help but purr after him. She knew her position, knew it well, but that didn't stop her from enjoying the sparkle of his green eyes, the sheen of his like a newly kindled spark. _What would Brushtail think of me? _she wondered, naming the cat that had once been her mentor.

_Probably tell me to stop dawdling and get some work done! _she answered for herself, and set about mixing some juniper and comfrey. Still, her head was somewhere else altogether. There was something about that Firepaw...

&&

Spottedleaf awaoke to a frightening bustle of activity. She scrambled to her paws in time to hear Frostfur's screech. "My kits! Someone has stolen my kits!"

Missing kits? Fear and anger ripped Spottedleaf at the news. This had to be the work of ShadowClan. For a moment she suspected Yellowfang, but reprimanded herself immidiately for it. Yellowfang was a medicine cat, and she would never stoop so low.

All senses searching for signs of kits, Spottedleaf padded out of her den. In the main clearing, warriors and apprentices raced around, searching through dens and along the ravine. Tigerclaw bellowed orders and waited for them to be followed.Spottedleaf stalked along the edge of the racine, ignoring the rain that was beginning to fall. She was heading for Bluestar's den, but she was going along this way, hoping to pick up some sign of kits along the way.

A soft squal and an angry hiss stopped her in her tracks. She was concealed in the gorse of the ravine, and no other cat saw what she saw then. A huge ShadowClan warrior, jaws heavy with his burden of kits, stood before her. Clawface! Spottedleaf drew breath to call a warning, but before she could Clawface struck. He dumped the kits on the ground and leaped, his jaws hitting the back of her neck, a lethal bite. Spottedleaf's claws scraped down his side, but her attack was feeble.

Her blood was beginning to pool around her paws, and her senses were fading away. But she wasn't ready to die! Who would be medicine cat for ThunderClan? Who would share StarClan's secrets with Bluestar? Spottedleaf realized one thing for certain; it would not be her. Her eyes closed and she swayed on her paws, not seeing as Clawface scooped up the kits and fled without reomorse for his deed. The young tortoiseshell could no longer even feel her own heartbeat. Was that because of how weak she was? Or was it simply because it was no longer there?

&&

When Spottedleaf awaoke, she was back in her den. She sat up quickly, realizing that her wounds were gone, that she felt healthier than ever before. She shivered, remembering her death, and then started when she saw another cat before her.

"Brushtail?" It was true. This cat carried her same scent as Brushtail, and his white coat was the same, with the single black ear.

"Hello, little one," he murmured.

"But Brushtail?" Spottedleaf rasped in confusion. "If you're here, that means...means I'm..."

"Dead?" he supplied gently. "Indeed, little one. Clawface's wound was fatal."

"But if I'm dead," Spottedleaf mewed hesitantly, "Should I be in- in StarClan?"

"You soon will," he promised. "But I have something to show you first."

He led her back out into the main clearing. Rain was falling as if the sky itself was bleeding from some awful wound. Cats had retreated to their dens. Except for one, that was lying in the middle of the camp.

Spottedleaf recognized her soggy body with a shock. From beside Brushtail, she watched as a small orange cat crept towards it. Spottedleaf felt a lump from in her throat as she saw Firepaw, as she heard his last words to her. "Good-bye, my sweet Spottedleaf."

_Did he love me? _Spottedleaf's eyes fell on the apprentice, and then something very strange happened. She saw FIrepaw, but not as the Firepaw she knew. She saw him full-grown and strong, on the Highrock. A Clan leader.

"Now do you see?" asked Brushtail. "See his destiny?"

"Yes," Spottedleaf whispered, her neck fur bristling as she realized. "I see it."

"Then you must help him meet it," Brushtail meowed.

"I will," Spottedleaf decided. Her amber eyes gleamed impossibly in the half-light of the rain. "I will watch him from StarClan. Watch him until he is gone from my sight, aid him until he gives up the last of his lives for StarClan. I will watch over him until...until the stars themselves grow cold. He will never be my mate, but I will be his guardian. For he is the fire, Brushtail, the light. The light that lives in me, in all of ThunderClan. And I swear by Silverpelt I won't ever let that die."

**Like it? Hate it? Tell me in a review!**


	10. Bluefur&Whitestorm

**This one was a lot of fun to write. I got a suggestion from Lux Leroux for a Whitestorm&Bluestar, and, as promised, I wrote it. It takes place after my Oakeheart&Bluefur one, while Bluefur is deputy. It's a lot lighter than all my other ones (mostly because it doesn't involve a huge tragedy). Redtail and Lionheart make appearances as young warriors, and I loved writing them in a different light...**

**Thanks for the suggestion, Lux Leroux!**

Whitestorm watched as Bluefur came back from hunting. She set her prey in the fresh-kill pile, keeping a vole for herself, and then padded over to the nettle patch beside Redtail, speaking to him in between bites of prey. Quickly he made his way over too, perhaps a bit too energetically for the casual tone that he attempted to speak in.

"Hi," he meowed. "Do you mind if I eat here too?"

Redtail shook his head and then turned back to Bluefur. "Did you hunt by Sunningrocks? Did you scent RiverClan?"

She nodded, a steely look coming into her blue eyes. Whitestorm stared at her eyes for a moment, perhaps too long. They reminded him of the sky on clear newleaf days. He quickly snapped to attention as she spoke. "They definately crossed the border. I'll have to report it to Dewstar."

Redtail growled. "I swear, they dance across our scent marks just to annoy us."

"And they steal prey along the way," added Whitestorm.

Bluefur gulped down the last of her vole, and Whitestorm detected something else in her gaze, somethign she wasn't saying. It must be about RiverClan. But what did she know that she wouldn't tell him and Redtail, two of her best friends?

Bluefur set off for Dewstar's den soon after that, and as soon as she was out of earshot Whitestorm slid closer to Redtail. "Do you think she likes me?"

Redtail rolled his amber eyes. They had been through this many times before. "Why wouldn't she?" he responded finally. "You're smart. You're a good warrior. You trail after her like a bad smell does to a badger, and- apart from myself, of course- you're the most handsome tom in ThunderClan."

"Apart from you?" teased Whitestorm, narrowing his eyes. "Why would any she-cat look twice at you? If you climbed up a tree they might mistake you for a squirrel."

Redtail's long ginger tail bristled. "Oh, well I suppose I was _imagining _it that Dappletail was eyeing me yesterday," he meowed with a twitch of his whiskers. (**A/N: This is back when Dappletail was a queen, not an elder)**

"Probably," nodded Whitestorm, mischief gleaming in his eyes.

"I'll fix you!" Redtail gave a playful growl and leaped upon Whitestorm. They tussled across the nettle patch, the insults they threw at each other almost incoherent through their laughter. Frostfur walked by them and rolled her pretty blue eyes. "Toms."

&&&

The next day Whitestorm plucked up the courage to ask Bluefur to go hunting. He decided that he would tell her how he felt sometime during the day. When she told him she wanted to go, he felt an odd mixture of elation and anxiousness.

"Just tell her!" Redtail coached as he waited with Whitestorm for Bluefur the next morning.

"What's the worst that could happen?" threw in Lionheart, who was also there.

"Shut up, Lionheart," Whitestorm growled. He didn't want to think of the worst.

"Hi, Whitestorm." The big white tom jumped about a tail-length in the air and spun round to see Bluefur emerging from the warriors' den, blinking sleep from her blue eyes. "And Lionheart and Redtail. Are you coming with us?"

"Uh, no," Lionheart meowed, while Redtail gave Whitestorm a greatly exaggerated wink. "We've got the sunhigh patrol, and have to stick around until then."

"But I gave that patrol to Darkpaw and Tigerclaw," meowed Bluefur, looking confused.

"Oh...but Tigerclaw asked us to go with him," meowed Redtail. "To help teach Darkpaw how to catch birds."

_As if Tigerclaw would ever ask anyone to help him mentor, _thought Whitestorm, but Bluefur only nodded. "All right. Then I guess it's just Whitestorm and me. I thought we could head up to the Great Sycamore and- what are you two doing?"

Redtail and Lionheart, who had been mouthing advice to Whitestorm behind Bluefur's back, froze like guilty kittens. "Nothing," they chorused.

Bluefur stared at them. "You two are weird today." She turned to Whitestorm. "Let's go."

As the two cats disappeared down the gorse tunnel, Redtail turned to Lionheart. "Do you think he's got a shot?"

Lionheart licked a paw and drew it over his ear. "Nope."

&&&

It took a long time for Whitestorm to gather his thoughts enough to say something to Bluefur beyond, "Uh, yeah" and "If you say so". Finally he summoned up the courage to say, "Bluefur, I've been thinking..." but she hushed him quickly.

"There," she murmured, pointing with her tail. A squirrel was up ahead, its tail twitching as it busied itself with digging a hole. Its whole head was inside the dirt, and it didn't see or scent the advancing cats.

"You go that way, I'll go this way," whispered Bluefur, and they split up, their bellies brushing the ground as the cornered the rodent. With a twitch of her ears that was the signal, Bluefur struck, leaping forward and frightening the squirrel backward, straight into Whitestorm's claws. He bent and snapped its spine in a single bite.

"Good catch," Bluefur meowed.

"We're a good team, aren't we?" Whitestorm mewed, his heart beating faster. This was it.

"We certainly are," Bluefur agreed.

"We're a good hunting team, Bluefur," he went on falteringly. "But I was thinking...hoping really...that we might be, you know, a little more than that. I like you, Bluefur. A lot."

Bluefur froze partly through a yawn, and her mouth slowly closed as her eyes grew wider. She stared at Whitestorm as if waiting for him to say he was kidding. Finally she rasped, "More than that?"

"Yes," Whitestorm mewed earnestly. "I care about you, Bluefur."

"I care about you too, Whitestorm," Bluefur replied. "You're one of my very best friends."

"But you don't like me...that way," Whitestorm concluded glumly, his head drooping. He should have known.

"I'm sorry," Bluefur meowed, lifting her tail to touch his shoulder. "I think that maybe we could have once been mates, but I know we can't."

"But why not?" Whitestorm asked. "If you like me and I like you..."

"Remember my kits, Whitestorm?" Bluefur murmured, a faraway look in her eyes.

"Of course I do," Whitestorm meowed, tipping his head to one side. "I searched the hardest of any warrior to find them."

"No one could find them..." whispered Bluefur, and for a moment a look of guilt crossed her face. But it was gone so quickly that Whitestorm shook his head, thinking that he must have imagined it. Bluefur stared at him for a moment, then went on, "The cat that fathered my kits...I can never forget him. I don't love him, at least I don't think I do, but I'll never love another after him."

"But you never told anyone who fathered your kits!" Whitestorm protested.

"Yes, and I won't now. But that doesn't mean I'll forget him."

"Does he _know _he fathered them?"

"Yes, he does," Bluefur murmured. "But trust me, Whitestorm, we will never be together again."

"If you can't be together, why can't you and I..."

Bluefur cut him off, stepping forward to push her side against his. "Whitestorm, oh Whitestorm," she meowed softly, "We'll always be friends, the greatest of friends. But I don't love you, and deep down you must know that we aren't meant to be."

She licked his ear in a kindly way, and then grasped her squirrel and set off back towards the camp. Whitestorm looked after her, wondering at many things. Who was the father of her kits? Why didn't she tell him how she felt? And why wouldn't she put him behind her?

He suddenly raced up ahead, struck by a sudden thought. He caught up by Bluefur, who was walking along, her head looking as if it were full of stars. "Bluefur," he meowed.

She snapped to attention. "What is it?"

"Even if we can't be mates," he meowed breathlessly, "You should know that I'll always be your friend. Always."

Her blue eyes grew soft and she leaned forward to touch noses with him. "Thanks, Whitestorm. That means a lot."

**Next up...Ferncloud and Dustpelt. Then maybe I'm done. Unless I get another suggestion...**


	11. Fernpaw&Dustpelt

**Thanks to all who reviewed. This one is Fernpaw&Dustpelt, suggested by Daughter of Hexfire, Simba's Other Daughter, and Vinestar. Thanx to them! About the Goldenflower&Tigerstar...I don't think it's gonna happen. They weren't really a couple. But I'm already working on Sorreltail&Brackenfur!**

**This one takes place when Fernpaw's still an apprentice, in either Rising Storm or A Dangerous Path. Hope you like it!**

Sorrelkit, Rainkit, and Sootkit were tumbling over each other outside the nursery. Fernpaw stood outside the apprentices' den, watching them with longing. She loved kits, and secretly wished for her own. She hoped that she would have them someday, though that time was a long way away. She was still an apprentice, and, after all, what tom would ever fancy her enough to father her kits?

"Fernpaw." The voice of her mentor, Darkstripe, made her jump. He was striding out of the warriors' den, his fur sleek, his eyes cold, as usual. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes, Darkstripe," mewed Fernpaw. "What are we doing today?"

"Fighting training," he answered stiffly. "We're off to the training hollow. Dustpelt says that he'll be taking Ashpaw around our territory's border today, so they won't be coming."

"Okay," meowed Fernpaw, though she wished she would be training with her brother. He always made it more fun.

Darkstripe led her purposefully through ThunderClan's land, out of the ravine and through Tallpines. Fernpaw leaped behind him, sniffing energetically at flowers and prey-scents. It wasn't until she fell a whole tail-length behind him that Darkstripe turned.

"How do you ever expect to be made a warrior that way?" he snapped at her. "Warriors are always alert, always ready. A ShadowClan cat could have slunk up behind you there, and you wouldn't have even had a chance to blink!"

"Sorry, Darkstripe," Fernpaw murmured, crestfallen.

"Yes, well, just remember that next time," Darkstripe meowed, turning around again. Fernpaw followed him closely after that, mimicking his movements; belly low, tail straight out behind, eyes narrow, ears pricked. He didn't even speak to her again. He never did. He was always all business.

He had her face him once they reached the training hollow, while he demonstrated a fighting move. Once she had learned it, he had her try it on him. Fernpaw leaped at him determinedly, trying to grasp his shoulders with her forepaws like he had said, but he twisted onto his back, catching her with all four paws and throwing her painfully to the ground.

He worked her even harder after that. Fernpaw winced every time she charged him, waiting to be knocked to the ground again. Sometimes she succeeded in holding him down, and she was only rewarded by him clawing at her in his attempts to get back up. She knew that he was jsut preparing her for real battles, but still, did he always have to be so grim and mean?

"Do you expect any warrior you're fighting to go easy on you?" Darkstripe demanded, narrowing his eyes. "Do you expect ShadowClan to get themselves all ready for you to defeat them, or for RiverClan to lay down between your paws? Of course not. And what about-"

"Darkstripe." The voice cut him off mid-lecture, and Fernpaw looked up with surprise to see Dustpelt at the top of the training hollow, Ashpaw hovering behind. "It's past sunset. Aren't you going back to camp?"

"After Fernpaw learns this move," Darkstripe growled, and he faced the young she-cat again. "Try it one more time."

"I think you've been out long enough," Dustpelt announced. Fernpaw was even more surprised.

"Do you?" Darkstripe challenged, glaring at the tabby tom. "And how would you know?"

"Just look at Fernpaw," Dustpelt meowed, looking with warm sympathy at the gray-flecked apprentice. "She's swaying on her paws. Why don't you call it a day?"

"Because I'm not finished." Darkstripe replied coldly. "Why should you criticize how I train? I was _your _mentor!"

"No you weren't," Dustpelt growled. "Redtail was my mentor a long time before you were, and he taught me more than any cat. Including you."

It was Darkstripe's turn to be shocked, but Dustpelt didn't back down. "Come on. Let's get back to the ravine."

Darkstripe lifted his tail. "What's wrong with you, Dustpelt? Nosing up to Fireheart, are you, now that he's deputy and all? Think that you can give yourself some power by sidling up to the kittypet?"

"No." Oddly, Dustpelt's eyes were still on Fernpaw, though his words were directed at her mentor. "I don't want any more to do with that kittypet than you do. I just think that you're too hard on Fernpaw."

Darkstripe snorted, but he flicked his tail at Fernpaw and began to leave the sandy hollow. On the way he brushed past Dustpelt, and Fernpaw heard his hissed words. "Just remember that you were Tigerclaw's friend, just like I was. We've got the same trouble, and don't think that you can get out of it by going against me."

Dustpelt growled, deep and low, but he said nothing more. As Darkstripe charged ahead back to camp, he followed several paces behind, leaving Fernpaw to walk with Ashpaw in the rear. "Wow," mewed her brother. "What was _that _all about?"

"I don't know," Fernpaw admitted. "But it's not what Darkstripe thinks. At least, I don't think it is."

"What does Darkstripe think it is?" wondered Ashpaw.

"Well, he and Dustpelt were both friends with Tigerclaw. And Darkstripe's angry because he thinks that Bluestar doesn't trust them anymore. So he thinks that Dustpelt's going against him so that he won't look like he ever sided with Tigerclaw."

Ashpaw opened his mouth to speak, but Dustpelt doubled back just then, heading straight for Fernpaw. She stiffened, wondering if he had heard what she had said, but he only stared at her a moment, his eyes soft. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," she answered, surprised at his friendly, warm tone. "Only a few scratches."

"Well, if you have any more trouble with Darkstripe, you can tell me about it," he meowed. "I'll straighten him out for you."

He bent and gave her fur a couple of quick licks. His eyes met hers again, and he let out a short purr. After a bit of a pause, Fernpaw's mind caught up with her racingheart. Thenshe purred back.

**They really are cute together, aren't they? Anyway, review please!**


	12. Sorreltail&Brackenfur

**Okay, here by popular demand...Sorreltail&Brackenfur. I haven't gotten any suggestions past this one, so I'm not planning to do any more. I hope you like this one, though, and again if you have a suggestion put it in a review! **

**This one takes place in Dawn, while they're traveling to find their new home...**

Sorreltail walked beside Ferncloud as they trod on the slopes of the mountains. Dustpelt walked ahead of them, Birchkit swinging from his jaws. Ferncloud's green eyes were trained on her single remaining kit.

"Is he all right?" whispered Sorreltail worriedly.

Ferncloud shook her head slowly. "I don't know," she admitted. "Cinderpelt says that he's stronger than the other two, but how can any kit survive for long in such weather?" Her voice was tight with weariness, and Sorreltail pressed her side against the queen's in a comforting gesture. "If it comes to it, every cat in ThunderClan will search for fresh-kill to feed him," she promised. "And maybe not just ThunderClan..."

She gazed around her, and the mingled Clans. It frightened her to think how the boundaries between them were fraying. How long would it be before they disappeared completely?

Ferncloud flicked her ears. "Maybe it's not such a bad thing," she pointed out. "We all need to work together to reach our new home. If we ever do," she added dryly.

"We will," Sorreltail promised, though there was little conviction in her voice. After all, she hadn't been one of the cats to travel to the sun-drown place. She had never shared a dream with StarClan. So how was she supposed to believe that they were heading the right way, when there was so much danger around?

Ferncloud lifted her eyes to the pale blue sky. "I suppose no place could be much worse than the forest," she meowed. "If we stayed there much longer we would have been prey for the monsters."

A tremor went through her, and Sorreltail knew she was thinking of Hollykit and Larchkit, who had both died from coldness and lack of prey, and her son Shrewpaw, hit by one of the monsters. Ferncloud looked down, locking eyes with Sorreltail. "I'm afraid to sleep," she mewed softly, fearfully. "Afraid that when I open my eyes, Birchkit won't be..."

She broke off, and Sorreltail turned towards her, horrified. So intent was she on finding some way to reassure to the queen, she didn't look where she stepped, and suddenly the rock crumbled beneath her. Sorreltail let out a yowl as she found herself sliding, and her claws shot out, gripping at the air.

"Sorreltail!" Ferncloud started to shout, but she never got to finish. There was a flash of ginger as Brackenfur darted forward. His jaws sank into Sorreltail's scruff and he hauled her back up before she could begin to fall. The tortoiseshell she-cat let out the breath she had been holding when her paws found the gray stone again, and she fell back on solid ground with Brackenfur sprawled over her. She eased her eyes opened and found his muzzle half a mouselength from hers. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," the tortoiseshell she-cat replied shakily. "Though I wouldn't have been, if you had been a heartbeat later."

"How could I have let you fall?" he asked, and twitched his whiskers. His breath mingled with hers.

"Sorreltail!" Firestar's call broke them apart, and they heaved themselves to their paws. Sorreltail was embarrassed, though she wasn't quite sure why. The flame-colored tom looked over her carefully. "Are you hurt?"

"No, Firestar," replied Sorreltail. Firestar relaxed. "Good," he meowed, and then turned to the golden brown tabby. "Well done, Brackenfur, for rescuing her."

"It was nothing," Brackenfur meowed casually, though his eyes were on Sorreltail, and she felt her paws prickle from the spark in them.

Firestar looked from one to the other, nodded, and then padded back to the other Clan leaders. The cats resumed walking, but Ferncloud, with an interested look at Sorreltail, went padding up to Dustpelt. She walked beside him, her gray-flecked fur brushing his tabby pelt.

"They're lucky, aren't they?" mewed Sorreltail. "You know, to have another cat to depend on like that. To walk beside them, watch out for them..."

"Catch them when they fall?" supplied Brackenfur, and he looked downward instantly as if wishing he hadn't said what he had. Sorreltail turned to stare at him, shocked. Had he said what she thought he had?

"Hey, we're falling behind," he meowed suddenly, lightly, and then sprang ahead, his pawsteps pounding on the rock. Sorreltail stared after him for a moment before she began to run after him.

A sudden thought struck her, and she called, "Brackenfur! Hey, Brackenfur!"

He turned back around. "Yeah?"

She stepped forward to match her pace with his. "Thanks for saving me."

The golden-brown tom's eyes grew soft, and he bent forward to give her fur a couple of quick licks. "No problem, Sorreltail."

**Aww...they were a good idea for a couple in Starlight, weren't they? I wonder if it's going to affect Leafpool in Twilight?**


	13. Crowfeather&Leafpool

**STOP. All non-Starlight readers, don't read this chapter until you've read the new book!**

**Okay, I've gotten a couple of requests for a Leafpool&Crowfeather one. Even though I already did them in the Featheratail&Crowfeather one, I wanted to do one that was just then. So I'm not predicting anything that'll happen, I just did Leafpool's last chapter in Starlight. But this time it's from Crowfeather's point of view...**

Crowfeather leaped after the ShadowClan cats, his wounds screaming in protest. _No, no! _he thought. _WindClan's being torn apart!_

He wondered briefly if he should have stayed back at his own camp. Brambleclaw had told him to follow the ShadowClan cats, and Crowfeather had obeyed him out of habit. He figured that Onewhisker would understand. Thinking back to the fight, Crowfeather knew his leader was alive. But had any of the other WindClan cats been killed in this battle of betrayal?

There were yowls up ahead, and Crwofeather watched in shock as the ShadowClan cats ahead suddenly disappeared from view. Crowfeather blinked, an then realized they must have fallen over the edge. He thanked StarClan that he had been here before, so he knew about the treacherous cliff, and was suddenly glad that he hadn't caught up with them yet. If they had been fighting, it would have been all to easy to slip over the edge.

Digging his claws into the ground, Crowfeather brought himself to an abrupt stop. He was right at the bushes that rimmed the cliff. He heard a desperate cry and looked down, expecting to see a ShadowClan warrior hanging for dear life- and he saw Leafpool.

The sight of her brought all of Crowfeather's feelings back. The dreams he had had, where she had weaved in and out, always calling to him, a message he couldn't understand. Or was it that he simply didn't wish to, for fear of what it would do to his continuing feelings for Feathertail?

Her eyes glittered with a sheet of silver starshine, and her fur had a ghostly white glow. Suddenly she wasn't Leafpool, but Feathertail. And she wasn't hanging from a cliff at the ThunderClan camp, but on a spurt of rock in the Cave of Rushing Water whitle Sharptooth roared below. He stared at this conjured vision, blind to her peril.

"Crowfeather," she hissed in terror, scrabbling at her hold. "Crowfeather, help me!"

_I should have let him kill me, Feathertail. Better me than you._

"Crowfeather!" Her voice was pleading. "Crowfeather, I'm going to fall!"

He stared down, wondering, not comprehending. Suddenly his voice came back to him in a weak murmur, but the words he spoke made no sense to her. He couldn't remember who she _was_, but he knew, he knew it by some unseen force, that he loved her. "Feathertail, I'm so sorry! It's all my fault. I shouldn't have let you fall."

Her eyes grew even wider, and she slid back. "It wasn't your fault," she whispered. "Help me, Crowfeather, please."

Then his own eyes snapped into focus, and so did his mind. She was Leafpool, and she was falling. As Feathertail once had. But unlike Feathertail, who he hadn't been able to save, this time he could do something. He took a pace forward, fastening his jaws to her scruff. His claws sank into the rock underneath his paws and he hauled, his muscles working furiously. He had to save her. He had to.

_Because I couldn't save Feathertail. Because of my dreams. Because of what my heart tells me. _

He couldn't ignore it any longer, couldn't hide behind hostility and feigned obliviousness. He loved Leafpool, and she was the one for him. He didn't know how, he didn't know why, but he knew it was true.

He found that he was dragging her back over the edge. As soon as her hindpaws were on the solid stone he released, and fell backward, exhausted and unable to move. Leafpool was beside him, the side of her head on the ground as if marveling that it was really there. Then her eyes rolled down to meet his gaze, and neither cat could turn away, neither could avoid the whisper of feelings and heartache that danced through the air between them.

"Thank you," Leafpool breathed.

"I did it," Crowfeather murmured, to make sure it was true. "I saved you."

Leafpool's fur bristled, and she attempted to clear the air. "I must be the last cat you would want to save."

"Is that what you think?" Crowfeather wondered, staring at her, suddenly desperately wanting her to know exactly what was going on with him, if only to make sure that she had to endure it too. "Don't you know how I feel about you? And how much I hate myself for feeling that way about another cat so soon after Feathertail's death? I loved her, I really did! How can I love you too?"

Leafpool's eyes widened and her fur bristled. Crowfeather could practically see her reaching into her heart, searching to know if he spoke the truth, and if she felt the same. "Me?" she stuttered. "But-"

He didn't even give her a chance to protest. "You walk in my dreams, Leafpool," he mewed, and the force of what he said reached the stars themselves. _I admit it, Feathertail. I love her too. Can you ever forgive me?_

"No..." Leafpool struggled. "You can't love me. I'm a medicine cat."

But he saw it in the way she stared at him, and in the fear that made her fur bristle. She loved him too, even if she didn't want to believe it...or perhaps she did, more than anything else, and she just feared it. But was it because she knew it would be breaking the sacred oaths she had made as a medicine cat? Or was it because she feared what would come after?

"Leafpool! Are you there, Leafpool?" The voices of ThunderClan cats brought Crowfeather sharply back to reality. The mist of starlight that seemed to circle him and the medicine cat was swept away, and they were just two shivering, scared cats, as Cloudtail and Brightheart appeared among the thorns.

They leaped to their paws, Leafpool calling, "I'm over here!"

Cloudtail raced over to his kin, wild-eyed. "Are you okay?" he meowed. "Is this cat on our side or theirs?" His tail lashed roughly at Crowfeather, who felt himself grow angry at the possibility of having to fight his way out of here, after all that had happened.

"I'm fine," Leafpool broke in. "And Crowfeather's a friend. He was chasing those two ShadowClan warriors. Don't claw him, Cloudtail, please. He saved me from falling over the edge."

_I did, _Crowfeather thought, and Cloudtail's eyes narrowed to blue slits. "Good."

"What happened to the ShadowClan cats?" Crowfeather wondered, feeling himself shy away from fighting again.

"They're dead." Brightheart announced as she joined them. "They broke their necks."

Crowfeather turned, knowing it was time for him to leave. Far apart from the fact he was no longer needed in the ThunderClan camp, he didn't think he could spend another moment there. His mind and heart were already packed to the exploding point with mixed thoughts and feelings, and he didn't think he could handle any more. So he leaped away, ignoring a half-finished question by Cloudtail, and felt Leafpool's eyes -deep, clear amber, not blue- burning into him until he disappeared from her sight.

It had been a terrifying night of battle and betrayal, and Crowfeather knew he should feel terrible and weary. But the paws that carried him were full of energy, and soon he was running as only the WindClan cats could, all out, his whiskers blowing with the breeze and his tail streaming behind him. He felt so light it was as if he was leaping from cloud to cloud in a night sky sprawled with stars...and when he closed his eyes, Leafpool was there, running beside him.

**I think Leafpool and Crowfeather might be my favorite Warriors couple, outdoing Graystripe and Silverstream, who were my favorite from before. I loved that last chapter (pg 312) where it says Leafpool was "walking on the wind with her head full of stars" so I made my last paragraph what I thought Crowfeather might have been feeling. Reviews are appriciated, thanx!**


	14. Goldenflower&Tigerstar

**And you all thought I was done with this fic! No, I finally figured out how to make a Goldenflower&Tigerstar one, though it doesn't have Tigerstar in it at all. It's just Goldenflower's musings on Bramblekit and Tawnykit, someplace around the end of Rising Storm, where Tigerstar is still Tigerclaw.**

Goldenflower padded out of the nursery. Her eyes blinked against the bright greenleaf sunshine, and she gazed around her, feeling oddly relieved at the peacefulness of the camp. Willowpelt was dozing a few pawsteps away, warming the kits she carried inside her swollen belly. A patrol was heading out, and Mousefur and Sandstorm were just coming down the gorse tunnel, prey in their jaws. Cloudpaw and Brightpaw lay outside the apprentices' den, sharing tongues. Goldenflower purred when she saw them. The young apprentices were so cute together. **(I just HAD to put that in.)**

"Watch your tail, mousebrain!" The high-pitched mew broke the stillness of the air, and Goldenflower turned to see Tawnykit and Bramblekit come rushing out of the nursery, pushing each other to get ahead. Tawnykit narrowed her green eyes at her brother. "I'd keep out of reach of my claws, if I were you!"

"Oh yes?" Bramblekit's eyes, darting with amusement, were amber slits as he crouched down, waving his tail in his air. "Come and meet the teeth of the greatest warrior of ThunderClan!"

"So when's he getting here?" Tawnykit looked around, feigning confusion, but Goldenflower wasn't paying attention to their harmless scuffle anymore. Her eyes were on the elders, who sat out of their log den, watching the kits solemnly. She pricked her ears to hear their old voices.

"There's bad blood in that one," Smallear croaked, his tail stabbing at Bramblekit. "Can you see it?"

"I can't see much of anything now," One-eye growled. "But I know very well who you're talking about, and I don't like what you're saying."

"You don't need to _see_ him," whispered Smallear in reply. "As long as you can remember what his father looks like."

Goldenflower froze, and she wished very hard that she hadn't listened at all. Quickly she stepped in between Tawnykit and Bramblekit, trying to break up their play-fight. "Look at that," she mewed airily. "Sunhigh already! It's high time for you two to get back into the nursery to take a nap."

"But _Mo-ther_." Tawnykit stretched the word out into a loud kitten squeak. "We're not tired. See?" She opened her eyes very wide.

"Yes, I see, but you must keep your strength up. I may take you out onto the ravine tomorrow- that is, if you're good and have gotten enough sleep so that you don't fall off your paws on the way there!" Goldenflower twitched her ears at her young enough for them to know that she meant business, and so they went to curl up next to Brindleface and her kits to sleep inside the nursery. The tabby queen blinked drowsily at Goldenflower and nodded enough to know that she'd watch them for her.

So Goldenflower was free to flop down outside of the nursery, her head on her paws, musing about her kits. She had made Fireheart promise to tell them the truth about Tigerclaw when they were older- but what would they do once they did know?

She knew that some didn't trust them- especially Bramblekit. Because he looked like Tigerclaw. You would have thought that they had learned to look beyond his pelt, but they didn't.

_He's nothing like his father was, _Goldenflower told herself. But she knew it wasn't true, and it hurt her heart to know that her kit would probably have to go through a great deal of injustice because of who he was.

How had she mated with Tigerclaw? No matter how long ago it had been- how come she hadn't been able to see through him? No, she didn't really love him. She hadn't ever. She had accepted him because he was a good, strong warrior, and the deputy, and he would bear her kits of the same qualities. But somehow it had turned the other way around in the end.

"Are you all right, Goldenflower?" The she-cat looked up to see Willowpelt, looking at her with concern in her blue eyes. Goldenflower quickly nodded. "Quite alright."

But Willowpelt wasn't convinced, and she sat down next to her, awkward because of her swollen belly. "It's Tigerclaw, isn't it?"

Goldenflower sighed. "Not only him. It's Bramblekit, too, and what the elders say- what everyone says. Even Fireheart."

"Can you blame Fireheart? He is Tigerclaw's greatest enemy, after all," Willowpelt pointed out gently.

"But why does no one trust my kits? They are only kits, after all! They haven't done anything wrong. They haven't done anything to prove themselves like Tigerclaw."

"Perhaps that's part of the problem," Willowpelt mewed. "They haven't started proving themselves yet. Once they become apprentices, and then warriors, then they will be loyal and brave and strong- and no one will be able to prattle on about how like their father are- not even Smallear, and we all know how much attention he pays to things!"

Her soft humor warmed Goldenflower, and she let out a bit of a purr, lifting her head to give her friend's ears a lick. "You're becoming wise," she meowed teasingly. "Practicing for when you become a mother?"

"Of course," Willowpelt answered. "I don't want my kits growing up not knowing the difference between mice and moss!"

"Don't worry," Goldenflower assured her. "They'll be wonderful, and you'll love them more than anything. I know."

She looked back towards the nursery, and then, mewing a farewell, made her way back into the bramble cocoon. Bramblekit was fast asleep, curled up in between Fernkit and Ashkit. Tawnykit slumbered on the other side of Brindleface, who was also asleep.

Goldenflower lifted a paw and tucked the dark tabby kit a bit farther in. "You aren't anything like Tigerclaw, are you?" she whispered.

As if in reply, he yawned and stretched. His tiny mouth opened, revealing a milky tongue and still-growing teeth.Bramblekit's amber eyes blinked open briefly, soft and unfocused. Then he dropped back off.

Goldenflower's heart filled with a love she had never felt for Tigerclaw, and somehow the innocence of her son's simple, unwitting gesture was enough of an answer for her.

**Okay, I think I'm done with this one now...maybe.**

**Anyway, reviews are appriciated!**


	15. Tawnypelt&Rowanclaw

**On one of the Amazon boards, someone said that Vicky Holmes had said in a book signing that Tawnypelt's mate was Rowanclaw (she's a queen in The Sight). So I wrote a fic about them. :)**

She missed the forest. She missed the feel of low tree branches scraping against the back, the pattern of shade when the sun was directly overheard, the smell of the new buds. She missed the taste of a squirrel brought up on nuts and seeds, and the chance to chase a mouse through undergrowth, guided blindly by scent. As familiar as the marsh was, and how comforting it was to make her way through the swamps knowing a ThunderClan cat would take double the time she did, she still missed the forest.

The vole had was facing her, though its head was ducked to scrape at the soil. Tawnypelt sank down into the grasses, her eyes narrowing. This should be an easy catch. She could grab the creature in one pounce. Her claws unsheathed, sinking easily into the wet ground. Her ears flattened against her head and, slowly, she took a step forward.

As soon as she did, one of the infamous ShadowClan winds picked up, carrying her scent directly towards the vole. Its chubby head jerked up, tiny nose twitching. Tawnypelt leaped, but it was gone, disappearing into a burrow and leaving her with empty paws.

"Fox dung!" She took a swipe at the air in frustration.

"Hey, you don't want to be yowling like that. You'll scare what's left of the prey off." Tawnypelt narrowed her eyes as a big ginger tom appeared out of the undergrowth. "Go away, Rowanclaw. I didn't say I wanted a hunting partner."

"From the looks of that pounce there, you need one."

Tawnypelt bared her teeth. "It's not my fault the wind picked up. I don't pride myself in thinking I can command them like you obviously think you do from the looks of your big head."

She waited for his retort, but instead he sat down and let out a purr of laughter. "You're confusing me with Cedarheart, I think."

"Well, him too!"

Rowanclaw purred again. "You don't have to be prickly, Tawnypelt."

Her fur bristled. "Actually, I do. If I wasn't, I'd have been eaten alive by this Clan by now."

Rowanclaw's eyes widened. "ShadowClan's been good to you."

"The Clan, yes. But not the cats in it."

"Then why don't you just go back to ThunderClan? They accept _kittypets. _I don't see any reason they wouldn't take in a warrior as strong and well-trained as you."

It took Tawnypelt a moment to realize he was complimenting her, and immediately she felt suspicious. "What do you want, Rowanclaw? Why'd you follow me out here?"

"What, you don't believe I just happened to come across you?" His gaze was so falsely innocent, Tawnypelt found her whiskers twitching despite herself. "No, I don't."

"Well..." His long tail twitched. "I just noticed that you always go hunting by yourself. I figured maybe you'd want a partner for once."

"You figured wrong."

"You'll bring in more prey with me helping you," Rowanclaw meowed. He looked her in the eye, and Tawnypelt found herself wondering for the first time if he was being sincerely friendly. But why would he be?

Her paws prickled uncomfortably. "I...I guess you're right," she stammered. "Where do you want to hunt?"

"I've got a place in mind." Rowanclaw leaped off through the marsh without a word, leaving Tawnypelt with no choice but to follow him.

&&&

"You mousebrain! Are you trying to get yourself an excuse to turn me into Blackstar?"

"Would you stop being so _suspicious_?"

Rowanclaw and Tawnypelt glared at each other, standing along the stream that was the ThunderClan border. The ginger tom gestured into the forest territory with one paw. "We're not going to get caught! It's midmorning, right after the dawn patrol and before the one at sunhigh. Perfect."

"I'm not hunting in ThunderClan territory with you!"

"Oh, don't tell me you're afraid of breaking the warrior code, because I won't believe you." Rowanclaw rolled his eyes. "There's no chance ThunderClan will see us, as long as we're careful, and I'm not about to report us to Blackstar."

"Oh, right. You won't report _us, _just _me._"

"Trust me!"

There was that look in his eyes again, Tawnypelt thought. It was almost warm. Angry, too, as if he was trying to say something she couldn't understand. The prickling sensation swept through her paws again and spread through her fur. She shook herself to get rid of it and opened her mouth, wanting to tell him he was a complete mousebrain and that she was going to back to camp, but it suddenly occured to her what the news around the camp would be when Rowanclaw told the others.

_Tawnypelt the traitor. Defending ThunderClan prey, even from this side of the border._

_Too afraid her old Clan will find her and think that her ThunderClan nobility was beaten out of her by the cruel ShadowClan cats!_

Tawnypelt shook her head, her ears already burning. She thought fast. "All right, I'll trust you. But you have to do something for me first."

Rowanclaw looked surprised, but relieved. "What's that?"

_Yes, what? _As surprised as he had been, Tawnypelt scrambled for a reply, finally thinking of a way to see if he really was just planning to get her in trouble. "You're crossing the border first."

"Okay." He blinked. Tawnypelt searched his face carefully for annoyance, but his eyes were clear as he approached the stream, leaping in without a second thought. ShadowClan cats were used to wet paws, and though their thick fur didn't shed water like a RiverClan cat's, it did keep out the cold. Tawnypelt waited until Rowanclaw had heaved himself on the opposite shore before stepping cautiously into the water herself. It was warm in the greenleaf sun, and she didn't even shiver as she waded through and pulled herself up on the other side. She flattened herself against the ground, her senses heightening instinctively as she realized she was in forbidden territory.

"Where to now?" Rowanclaw murmured.

Tawnypelt curled her lip. "This little adventure was _your _idea."

"All right." Rowanclaw flicked his tail, annoyed this time, but lifted his muzzle to the air. "I smell prey this way."

He set off at once, slinking through the undergrowth like a snake. Tawnypelt had to admire his grace as much as she disliked him. When she blinked his dark ginger fur faded into the undergrowth like a shadow, making her doubt that he was really there at all. She mirrored his movements even as she tried to pretend that she didn't have her mouth open wider than usual, her ears pricked to hear the calling of forest birds and the chattering of squirrels. The carpet of dry grass under her paws was felt as soft and familiar as the nursery had as a kit. She thought she saw Rowanclaw glance back at her once or twice, and was confused by the warm satisfaction in his eyes.

"There!" he hissed suddenly, stopping. Tawnypelt crept up behind him and looked in the direct he was pointing. A thrush was perched on the ground, pecking at the dirt. Rowanclaw wiped his tongue across his lips. "I'll get it."

Tawnypelt sat back and watched him resume his crouch, each paw moving with ShadowClan grace. He didn't make a sound, but he took his patient time with his approach. He was still outside of striking distance when the bird gave the ground a final peck, lifted its head, and hopped into the air. Rowanclaw exploded forward, claws closing on empty air as the thrush escaped without even noticing him. He fell awkwardly, his chin scraping the ground. Tawnypelt strolled out of the undergrowth to his side.

"You'll have to do better than that," she meowed. "We're not in ShadowClan territory any longer. ThunderClan prey moves faster, if it's a big fatter and stupider. You'll have to be quick."

Even as she spoke, she spotted a rustle in a gorse bush. She signaled Rowanclaw to stay silent with her tail and then took a few light steps forward, staring unblinkingly at the bush. A mouse was venturing slowly out into the sunlight, its whiskers waving cautiously. Tawnypelt's claws unsheathed as it poked its head out into the open and then, lightning fast, she reached out with one paw and killed it with a blow to its head.

She turned back to Rowanclaw. "See?"

She expected him to snarl at her in reply, but he only rose to his paws and bent to sniff the mouse. "It's a good catch. Show me how to do it, again?"

The sun crept slowly up in the sky as the two ShadowClan cats continued on their illicet outing, gathering ThunderClan prey. They paused at loud rustlings in the undergrowth, wary for patrols, but Tawnypelt felt more relaxed than she had in moons. The lush ThunderClan settings were like poppy seeds for a throbbing wound, and she had to admit that it was nice to having a hunting patner for a change. Rowanclaw mastered the ThunderClan way of hunting within the first few pounces, and he caught nearly as much prey as Tawnypelt.

"We'll never be able to carry all this home," she remarked as she added a vole to the pile. "And it smells of ThunderClan. A few pieces will mix with the others in the fresh-kill pile, but even a kit could tell where this much came from."

"Maybe we should leave some of it here, then," Rowanclaw suggested, his eyes narrowing with amusement. "Some lucky apprentice will stumble upon it and get off easy on feeding the elders."

His voice was light, but Tawnypelt's whiskers froze mid-twitch. "Why would you suggest that?" she demanded. "What ShadowClan cat willingly gives up prey?"

Rowanclaw's fur bristled uneasily. "It's like you said-- Blackstar will be able to tell where we went if we bring it all back."

"That wasn't a problem when we started," Tawnypelt hissed. "That wasn't a problem until I said it." She bared her teeth, her anger coming back for the first time since the early morning. "Why did you bring me here, Rowanclaw?"

The dark ginger tom picked at the feathers of a pigeon he held in between his paws, his tail-tip twitching slowly back and forth. "Maybe...maybe I didn't care about hunting," he mumbled. "Maybe I didn't think it through all that well."

"What _were _you thinking about, then?"

"That's what I'd like to know." The snarl made both ShadowClan cats jump, wheeling around to see a ThunderClan patrol advancing out of the undergrowth. One look told Tawnypelt that she and Rowanclaw wouldn't stand a chance. There were four cats in the patrol-- a pale gray tom, a lithe black tom, a white she-cat and a gray and white tom, small enough to be an apprentice. Tawnypelt spared a moment to be grateful that neither her brother, Brambleclaw, nor his mate Squirrelflight were part of the patrol, and then felt her tail shoot up into the air, every hair on her pelt bristling.

"We were only visiting," she meowed lightly.

"We'll leave now," Rowanclaw added.

"We'll make sure of that." The gray tom narrowed his blue eyes, his jaws parting in a vicous snarl. Tawnypelt glanced once at Rowanclaw, snapped up as much prey as she could carry, and turned tail. She heard the ginger tom pounding after her, breathing hard through a mouthful of feathers. The ThunderClan cats gave chase, but she and Rowanclaw easily lost them, sliding through the undergrowth. They splashed through the stream and exploded onto the ShadowClan side, collapsing onto the ground side by side.

Rowanclaw opened his mouth and let the pigeon and vole he carried fall onto the bank. "Did they follow us?"

His question was answered when the gray ThunderClan tom appeared out of the reeds, flanks heaving. "And don't come back!" he shouted.

Tawnypelt's lip curled, but before she could reply the tom had already turned tail and leaped back to where his Clanmates must have been waiting. She glanced sideways at Rowanclaw. "I knew we were going to get caught."

"I suppose, but aren't you glad it was that stuck-up ThunderClan tom instead of Blackstar?"

Tawnypelt shook her head slowly from side to side and found she was purring with laughter, the sound muted as she gasped for breath, still tired from the run. "You're probably right," she mewed finally. Rowanclaw moved as if to pick up his prey, but she caught his gaze and held it. "You didn't get to tell me why it was you wanted to go warrior-code-breaking with me today."

Rowanclaw looked down against. "Yeah, well...I just wanted to hunt with you."

Tawnypelt's ears shot up in surprise. "But why ThunderClan territory?"

Rowanclaw's claws were digging deep into the soil, as if to hold him there. "I...I've seen you looking over there. I know you miss it. I thought it...might make you happy, to be back in the forest for a while."

The prickling sensation was back in Tawnypelt's paws, and her flesh felt hot beneath her fur. "It's none of your business what I miss, Rowanclaw," she meowed. "And it's not your responsibility to make me happy, either."

She's sounded sharper than she'd intended, and Rowanclaw's ears drooped as he got slowly to his paws. "No, it's probably not," he mumbled.

_Mousebrain! Why do I always have to be so prickly? _Tawnypelt looked around, her eyes landing on the prey they had brought with them. "Hey," she mewed, "we've broken enough of the warrior code today, why don't we have a few bites before we take this back to camp?"

She was relieved when Rowanclaw's ears shot back up and he sat back down, reaching with one paw back towards the prey. He hooked a mouse in his claws and tossed it towards Tawnypelt. "Go ahead and go first," he meowed.

Tawnypelt bit into the mouse without hesitation. The flavor was faintly familiar, juicy and sweet with berries rather than the sharp herbs that ShadowClan prey ate. It eased the always-present homesickness in her stomach. She eagerly bent for another bite.

Rowanclaw was watching her closely, and when Tawnypelt met his gaze she suddenly thought of how warm his amber eyes were, and how nice it felt, sitting her beside him on the bank of the stream. The sun was beating down, but the warmth through her fur had more to with the brush of Rowanclaw's pelt against hers.

"Better than ShadowClan?" he asked her, hesitantly.

Tawnypelt glanced across the stream into the lush green forests she always walked in her dreams, and then turned her head back towards the pines where she had founded ShadowClan's home, the place where she had hunted countless times and fought for with her own claws. The side of the stream where she now lay with Rowanclaw, her paws prickling.

She chewed slowly, and then swallowed. "Never."


	16. Crowfeather&Nightcloud

**Decided to update, for once, since I'm on Thanksgiving break and have free time for once. This one's Crowfeather and Nightcloud, and I actually really liked the way it turned out. I'm not sure if I have their relationship on target, but this is how I've always imagined it.**

Nightcloud had never known that she could love something so much. She loved everything about him, from the soft touch of his gray-black pelt against hers to the way he stared up at Silverpelt every night, amber eyes blank with wonder. She loved his overconfidence and his fierce Clan loyalty-- Clan loyalty, she knew, that he had inherited from her alone.

"Breezekit," she purred, touching her nose to his tiny ear. The kitten rolled over in his sleep, batting at her nose with miniature claws. Nightcloud nuzzled him closer.

He was her only kit. Most of the time she believed that he would remain that way. His father didn't seem to have any intentions to have another litter. He treated Breezekit well enough, certainly, but when he had first come to the nursery to see him there had been no deep love in his eyes, not the kind Nightcloud knew burned in her own gaze.

She shook away the thought that always came to her when she remembered that night. _He doesn't love me._

But of course he did. Crowfeather had told her so, more than once. He had persued her, not the other way around. Why else would he do that, if he didn't love her?

Nightcloud buried her nose in Breezekit's soft fur, not allowing herself to think of an answer.

She nudged her son away from her, pushing him against one of the other nursery queens. Breezekit curled up again, oblivious, and Nightcloud got carefully to her feet. She stepped lightly out of the den and into the WindClan camp.

It was a cloudy new moon night, leaving the clearing in almost complete darkness. But Nightcloud could see the shape of the cat who sat halfway up the rise, his head tipped up towards the sky. He didn't hear her as she slipped quietly across the camp to his side, but when she sat down next to him he turned his head back down. She saw a pulsing warmth in his eyes that faded as he recognized who she was.

"What is it?" he meowed.

"Nothing," Nightcloud replied. "I just couldn't sleep."

"Oh." He looked back up towards the sky again. Nightcloud tried to follow his gaze and figure out which star he was looking at, but they all looked the same to her. She knew that a whole slew of WindClan cats were there, including Tallstar and Deadfoot, but she had never understood how some cats could look up at the sky and feel sure of that. StarClan had never whispered their secrets in _her _dreams.

"What are you looking for?" she murmured, letting the words slip out even though she knew it would make Crowfeather angry. Sure enough, her mate's ears flattened.

"Just my warrior ancestors," he meowed, not even bothering to look at her. But Nightcloud turned to look at him. She thought that the stars looked much more wonderful when they were reflected in his eyes. It made her feel a deep love for him, the one she knew he didn't return.

"It's all right," she mewed softly. "I don't mind if you're looking for _her_."

Crowfeather glanced at her. "I'm not."

Nightcloud curled her tail around her paws. "Is it Leafpool, then? She's a medicine cat and walks with StarClan sometimes. Can you see her through the stars?"

"I'm _not _looking for Leafpool. Or Feathertail." Crowfeather looked at her coldly. "I'm through with them, how many times do I have to tell you?"

_Until you mean it. _But Nightcloud did not quite dare say the words out loud. Instead she sighed. "I'm sorry for asking."

"Don't be." Crowfeather shifted a mouselength closer to her, and the gesture was somehow enough to set every last hair of Nightcloud's pelt on end. She could feel his amber eyes on her. "I don't understand why you put up with me."

_Because I feel sorry for you. Because WindClan needs you. Because I wish I could make you love me. _There were a hundred answers to the question, but only one Nightcloud could say out loud. "Me either."

He let out a quiet _mrrow _of laughter, and then lifted his tail. "Here. I'll show you what I was looking at."

He placed his tail gently on her shoulder and angled it forward, pointing at something in the sky. Nightcloud lifted her head, trying to make out what he was indicating. The sweep of stars in the dark sky looked bottomless to her, like the black slit of a cat's eye. Crowfeather drew a circle around one cluster in particular. "Those are the brightest, aren't they?"

Nightcloud looked at the little cluster, and then at the group beside them on both sides. They all looked the same to her. "I don't know. Maybe."

"You're not looking close enough." He pressed himself closer, trying to make her stare harder into the sky. "They shine just a little brighter."

"No they don't," Nightcloud argued, pointing with her own tail. "That little group over there looks just the same. See it?"

Crowfeather's frustrated growl turned to a purr halfway through, and he gently touched his nose to her cheek. "I love you."

Instead of answering like she usually did Nightcloud looked past him, back into the sky at his favorite cluster of stars. "I see what you're talking about now," she meowed. "They _are _the prettiest."

Crowfeather meowed something in reply, but Nightcloud wasn't paying attention. She was too busy feeling the hard little grain of hot pleasure that had woven its way into her heart. _See, Crowfeather, I can lie too._

**Reviews are appreciated!**


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